BIOTECHNOLOGY CONTINUES TO MOVE CLOSER TO WIDE-SCALE APPLICATION IN THE INDUSTRY: THE IVth MOLECULAR BIOLOGY WORKSHOP, HELD AT CIRAD, MONTPELLIER, FRANCE

摘要

THE WORKSHOP covered four themes, namely: (1) genome structure and diversity; (2) genetics, physiology and manipulation of pest and disease resistance; (3) genetics, physiology and manipulation of sugar content; and (4) technical advances. Studies onthe genomes of sugarcane and related other species are continuing to provide important basic information on the genetics of sugarcane. New information on chromosome pairing behaviour will allow improvement to the genome simulation model currently being used to develop sugarcane mapping methods and software applications. There is wide-scale use of DNA- based methodologies to identify germplasm and to follow introgression in several plant breeding programs. For the first time, a report covered the use ofmarker technology in a breeding program to select for economically important traits. Steady progress has been made in map-based cloning to isolate a major rust resistance gene. Good progress has been made in achieving resistance to sugarcane yellow leafvirus (SCYLV, Luteoviridae) and the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera) by using a genetic manipulation approach. Several new molecular tools are now available for general use by sugarcane researchers. One of the most important is a largecollection of T-DNA-tagged rice lines developed at CIRAD, France. Further analyses of GM sugarcane lines with reduced pyrophosphate dependent phosphofructokinase activity confirmed that these plants accumulate more sucrose than the controls in the top portion of the culm indicating an 'early ripening' phenotype. This is apparently caused by a disturbance in the hexose-P to triose-P ratios. Alternative product development in sugarcane was highlighted by reports on the production of biodegradable plasticand human collagen in transgenic sugarcane.